Apparatus for handling rods



F. w. Lome A PARATUs' FORv HANDLING nous 'Filed Dec. 31.' l1931 2 sheets-sheet 1 v lweni'or: FEF/YK l1( 0e/6,

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Patented Dec. 18, 1934 1,984,750 APPARATUS FOR-HANDLING RODS Frank W. Lorig, Lakewood, Ohio Application December 31,

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for handling rods delivered by a rolling mill, one of the inventors objects being to facilitate the loading of rod bundles on an endless conveyer.

Continuous rod mills require a minimum of -two rod ceiling reels per strand of rods delivered from the mill, that is, two reels are necessary for a single strand and four for a double strand rod mill.

These reels have heretofore been arranged with conveyers in two general schemes. One is to place the reels in a row parallel to and alongside one conveyer, and the other is to use a plurality of conveyers with an individual reel placed at the end ofV each conveyer.

The conveyers used with rod reels are of two general types. One uses chains with dogs projecting above stationary apron plates over which the rod bundles are dragged. The other has av movable apron. The chain and dog types of conveyers are further divided into two types, those having a single chain where the rod coils are placed over the' dogs and the coil is pulled, and those having a double chain with dogs which push the coil. Conveyers with dogs can pull a bundle of any-size rod, but cannot push bundles of fine gage rods satisfactorily, because the coils in frictional contact with the conveyer apron or table bend backward.

To overcome this distortion of the lower coils of a rod bundle on conveyers of` the chain and dog type, single chain conveyers are used with continuous mills rolling fine gage rods. On the majority of these mills, especially those equipped with the ypouring type reels, manual removal of the bundles from the reels .is practiced. This method of handling bundles collapses them from the form made by the reels. A collapsed bundle is so placed on the conveyer that one of the dogs of a continually running chain enters within the coils and drags it forward. The conveyer in this case is never fully loaded.

It is impractical to manually remove from the reels the heavy and high coils being made by modern rod mills. It is also desirable that the bundles retain the form given them by the reels, as it reduces the time necessary for cooling. Therefore, modern pouring reels are equipped with power pushers which remove the bundles in the desired form. But to place a rod bundle over a dog on a single chain conveyer by means of a pusher requires 'the-use 'of additional intricate mechanism at each reel, or placing a reel at the loading end of a conveyer, so that the pusher fmittently to move V1931, serial No. 584,210

places the bundle where the dog will enter over the place on the conveyer vwithin the coils of the bundle as it rises above the surface of the conveyer plate or apron.

To obtain this latter arrangement a plurality of conveyers with one reel at the end of each conveyer has been used. Also,

to obtain the minimum the required cooling termittently, moving the every time a bundle is pushed on The use of a conveyer following objections: No very desirable,

length of conveyers for time they are operated indistance between dogs the conveyer.

for each reel has the spare reels, which are can be installed without its conveyer; the increased installation cost, because of the number of drives and and the bundles are veyers at as many placesl tail sprockets required;

discharged from the conas there are conveyers requiring expensive collecting equipment or excessive labor.

For the use on millsrolling rods of gage, pouring reels with power installed in a row ,alongside operated conveyer having a at a distance equal to that of the The dogs when at rest are between dogs spaced reel centers.

a heavy pushers have been an intermittently double chain with reel centers so that the bundle can be placed on the conveyer between the dogs.

conveyer is deposited on the As each bundle from its respective reel the dogs move one space forward pushing the'bundles ahead fully loaded conveyer ing, the reels scribed sequence to prevent a it is desired to This sequence of reel operadifflcult to obtain, as numerspace into' which coil from the reel. tion is orteil times ous delays and other occurrences at many places of them. In order to have a obtain maximum coolmust be operated in a certain prebundle being in a in the mill will interrupt it, causing irregular and interrupted operation of the conveyer with the consequent diiiiculties in handling the bundles at the discharge end of the conveyer.

All of the above mentioned undesirable conditions have been overcome by feature of this inventionis tion. The principal the present inven-l the grouping of a plurality of reels about the loading end of a conveyer in such manner as to permit the coiled bundles of rods to be power-A pushed from all reels to conveyer table, which in veyer is the point the conveyer table coiled bundle. The conv a single point on the a dog and chain conat which the dog rises above or apron and enters inside the eyer is operated interforward the distance of the chain dog spacing as `each rod. bundle is pushed from its respective reel to this single loading push another Figures 2, 3 and 4 are top plans of suggestivev modications.

Figure 5 is a cross-section on the.I line V-V of Figure 1.

In detail, rods are led from the last stand of rolls 1 of a continuous multi-strand rod mill, through swinging conduits 2 of switching mechanisms 3 and selectively through rod delivering conduits 4 having interposed cooling water receiving boxes 5, this, so far, being a conventional arrangement. These rods are loaded on pouring.

reels 6 at the ends of the delivering conduits 4,

'these reels being grouped radially about a point X at the receiving ends of endless drag conveyers 7. 'Ihese pouring reels 6 are each arranged with a stripping plate 8 and a push-olf ram 9, the latter being arranged to push bundles from this plate to the receiving end of the conveyer. This last arrangement and its operation are disclosed in the patent to B. N. Bletso et al., numbered 1,850,492, entitled Rod reeling mechanism and led August 3, 1931.

The conveyers 7 are of the usual intermittently operated type which are provided with dogs adapted to be engaged within the coils or bundles of rods as they are deposited on the conveyer.

Reference may be made to the patent to G. H. Rose, numbered 1,865,337, entitled Conveyer and led November 21, 1931, for a disclosure of the above.

It is to be noted that the invention is primarily applicable to mills using the modern type of equipment, that is, reels having stripper plates which raise the formed coils and pushers which then horizontally discharge these coils from these stripper plates to a conveyer or conveyers, and conveyers having surface plates and dogs which rise at a common point thereabove and drag or push the coils thereover. The patents referred to are representative of such equipment.

'Ihe reels 6 may be grouped about the receiving ends of the conveyers 7 in various numbers, the minimum permissible being two for each strand of rod, because one must `be stopped and the rod bundle formed thereon loaded on a conveyer While another is receiving the continuously delivered rod. The various figures of the drawings suggest different arrangements.

The method of using the apparatus illustrated is substantially as follows: The rods delivered from the rolls 1 are switched, in each instance, to an empty one of the reels 6 by means of the -switchingmechanisms 3. When these are lled the rods are switched ,to other empty reels and the stripping plates 6 of these loaded reels are raised so that the push-ofi" rams 9 can shove the rod bundles from these reels onto the point X of the conveyers, the latter being then operated to move a distance equal to the space between the conveyer dogs so as to drag each bundle clear and permit the rod bundles now forming on the other reels to be subsequently loaded in a similar manner. If three or more reels are provided for each strand a spare reel will always be ready for emergency use, which is desirable in case one of the two necessary reels should be rendered inoperative. If desired, the rod bundles may be manually moved from the reels 6 to the receiving ends of the conveyers '7, in which case a more simplified form of reel arrangement may be used.

The arrangements shown in Figures 3 and 4 may be used for a two strand mill, thus eliminating the need of a second conveyer.

While a specific form of the invention has been shown and described in accordance with the patent statutes, it is to be understood that it is not desired to. limit the invention exactly thereto, except as delined in the appended claim.

, I claim:

A rod-mill layout including a rod-bundle conveyer and a plurality of rod reels of the type having push-01T members, said reels being grouped adjacent the receiving end of said conveyer in such'arrangement that said push-off members are radially disposed respecting the loading point of the same and so that rod-bundles formed by any one of said reels may be pushed towards the loading point of said conveyer and the latter operated regardless of the sequence with which said reels are operated.

FRANK W. LORIG. 

